Well, this is what Dunk actually wrote, transcribed in abc from the very clear manuscript in the possession of the NPS:
X:NPS Collection T:Whin Shields on the Wall C:John L. Dunk Q:1/4=100 M:2/4 L:1/16 K:G z6 d2 |B2G2 G2B2 |A2D2 D2D2 |G2G2 GABc |d3B d2g2 |e2c2 c2e2 |d2G2 G2AB |c2E2 E2FG |ABcd e2fg | decB ABGF |G3E G2B2 |e2B2 B2e2 |d3A d2e2 |a2e2 e2f2 |g3e g2f2 |e2d2 c2B2 |A2d2 d2fd |A2d2 e2fg | a3g gfed |B2G2 GABG |A2D2 D2EF |G2G2 GABc |d6 g2 |e2c2 c2de |d2G2 G2AB |c2B2 A2G2 |dedB GAGE | c3F Fd2G-|G3E G4 |] I'm not convinced that this is anything else other than nonsense. It starts familiarly but then goes completely mad ( a brief allusion to 'Il est né, le Divin Enfant' creeps in) and goes all over the place. I agree, though . . . a very interesting character! > Mr Dunk was heavily involved in the highbrow music scene He may have thought he was, but did the highbrow music scene agree? Francis On 15 Jul 2011, at 11:55, barr...@nspipes.co.uk wrote: > Quoting Francis Wood <oatenp...@googlemail.com>: > >> Another 'traditional' tune, J.L Dunk's Whin Shields on the Wall was >> unplayable nonsense when given to the NPS in a literate-looking but >> impossible manuscript. Someone, probably the editor Gilbert Askew has bashed >> it into the excellent Whinshield's Hornpipe. >> > > I think that Francis is being unkind to Mr James Delanoy Dunk. Mr Dunk was > heavily involved in the highbrow music scene of London in the early part of > the last century. His sister, Susan Spain-Dunk achieved some recognition as a > Classical composer. > > http://landofllostcontent.blogspot.com/2009/09/susan-spain-dunk-note-in-music-student.html > > James' writings on music theory are widely regarded as incomprehensible but > they reveal someone who has thought deeply about the nature of music. Perhaps > he has thought too deeply, for that way madness lies! > > I suspect that Whin Shields on the Wall as submitted was an attempt to make a > work which would bring the NSP into the Classical repertoire of the time. I > can make no sense of it but then I have no feeling for the works of > Schonberg, Stockhausen, Bertwhistle or Cage. I leave such matters to others > in the same way as I leave aside recent attempts to take NSP into the world > of contemporary classical music. These ventures simply hold no interest for > me. > > The Lass of Falstone is a pretty good tune though. > > Barry > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
